Abruzzo Pecorino

About this wine

This Pecorino from Abruzzo opens with an inviting ripe and honeyed aroma that suggests white peach, citrus and a light nutty note. On the palate it is dry, quite full and textured, with delicate ripe stone fruit and lemon flavours carried by bright acidity and a clear mineral streak. A subtle savory and almond like character adds complexity without overpowering the fresh fruit. The finish is surprisingly long, with a gentle spicy lift that lingers on the tongue. The wine is made from 100 percent Pecorino grown in the Vigneto al Lago vineyard near Collecorvino in Abruzzo, and it is fermented and aged in stainless steel to preserve freshness and aromatics. Pecorino is a historic local grape of central Italy that had almost disappeared until growers like Contesa helped bring it back, and this bottling shows its typical mix of floral, citrus and mineral notes with good structure and concentration.

About the grape

Pecorino is an old white grape from the central Apennines of Italy, thought to have originated in the Marche and quickly adopted in nearby Abruzzo, where its name recalls the sheep that once grazed through the mountain vineyards eating the early ripening grapes. Over the twentieth century farmers largely abandoned Pecorino because its natural yields were small, and by the year two thousand only a handful of hectares survived before producers in Marche and Abruzzo began replanting it as a pure varietal wine. In Abruzzo today it has become a flagship white, valued by growers for its early harvest window and its ability to hold acidity in the warm days and cool nights of hillside sites. At Contesa the grape is grown as a single variety in the Vigneto al Lago vineyard in Collecorvino on clay and limestone soils, trained on Guyot at relatively high planting density, and handled with gentle cold maceration and stainless steel fermentation to protect the variety and express its local character in this bottling.

Quick facts

• ⚔️ The name Contesa means quarrel in Italian, a playful nod to a famous dispute in 1903 when the winemaker Rocco Pasetti’s great grandfather fought to keep his vineyards
• 🐑 The Pecorino grape in this Abruzzo white is linked to local shepherds who were said to snack on the sweet berries during seasonal journeys while trading pieces of Pecorino cheese
• 🧪 Contesa’s Pecorino comes from a tiny plot called Vigneto al Lago only about 1 point 7 hectares in size so each bottle reflects a very small and closely tended corner of Abruzzo
• ⛰️ The winery that produces this Pecorino is dug into the hillside like a cave which naturally keeps the cellar cool and lets the family work with very gentle temperature control
• 🌱 Although it tastes bright and easygoing this Pecorino is grown under a certified integrated farming system and the Pasetti family is pushing toward full organic status so it is a quietly eco conscious choice

Palate profile

Producer

Contesa is a family winery founded in 2001 by enologist Rocco Pasetti in Contrada Caparrone near Collecorvino in Abruzzo. After a long career directing a major local cooperative he created his own estate to focus on characterful wines that express the hills northwest of Pescara. The winery now farms about thirty to fifty hectares around the cellar with Montepulciano Trebbiano and Pecorino planted on clay and chalk slopes at around two hundred fifty meters above sea level. A modern cellar carved into the hillside was completed in 2004 and today Rocco works alongside his sons Franco and Ugo combining traditional varieties with sustainable certified vineyard practices. Contesa has also been an important advocate for the Pecorino grape helping to establish it as a leading white wine of Abruzzo.